Stories

Photo: Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance

In our weekly updates, we share stories of our presence and impact around the world: from disaster response, to refugee and immigration ministry, to ongoing sustainable development projects in impoverished areas. Catch up on updates you missed, or find stories you want to read and share again! Or, subscribe to receive weekly email updates.

Photo: CWS Japan: Moriya, a city in Ibaraki Prefecture, was severely impacted by the typhoon. This window captures the light and color still present in hardship

In the dark winter months, Advent is a season of hope. As people of faith, we seek light and life in that darkness, trusting that God is giving shape to new life even when we can’t yet see it. We are also called to actively embody that hope. As the Church, we offer hope to others who are living through dark times. The work that you support through Week of Compassion reflects the hope, peace, joy and love of this season in tangible ways. Here are just a few of the places that hope travels through some of our recent responses.

Mr and Mrs Mauguese in front of their shelter in Muchambonha village, Manica Province of Mozambique. Photo: LWF

Francisco Thuboy Mauguese is a farmer who lives with his wife and six children in Muchambonha village. He is one of the residents in Manica Province, Western Mozambique, who received help from Week of Compassion through our ACT Alliance partner after cyclone Idai. His family had been hard-hit by the storm: their harvest of sorghum, ground nuts and corn was completely destroyed, and all their livestock were swept away by the floods.

Cyclone Idai devastated Mozambique and the surrounding area in March of this year. The intense tropical storm left more than 1,200 dead, and hundreds of thousands displaced.

The Lake Chad Basin area-- which includes parts of Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon-- is facing one of the most severe humanitarian crises of our time. Already impoverished, the region has been struggling under the negative impact that shifting climate has on living conditions and livelihoods. In addition to the environmental factors that make life challenging, escalating violence in the area has reached a tipping point. To date, at least 2.5 million people in the region have been displaced because of protracted conflict. ​